Rationale:In beginning reading, it is
imperative that students learn to decode written words in order to
become successful readers. Through decoding, children are able to
gain sight words, which leads to enjoyable reading success.
Because all words in the English language contain at least one vowel,
it os of the utmost importance to teach these to children very early in
reading instruction. During this lesson, the focus will be on the
vowel correspondence e=/e/. This correspondence will be taught
with a memorable letterbox lesson, which involves the use of gestures,
tongue twisters, letterboses, and reading a decodable text.Materials:

- Poster that displays the tongue twister:Everybody
saw Eddie enter the elevator on
the elephant!

- Picture of the letter e with a creaky door from
Valerie Gilmore's Phoneme Pictures

- Dry erase board

- Dry erase markers

- Large letter boxes for teacher use

- Large letters for teacher use

- Letter boxes for each student

- Letters for each student: a, b, c, d, e, h, k, l, n, p, r,
s, t

- A Copy of the book, Red Gets Fed for each student

- Overhead projector

- Word lists for each student of words spelled in the
letterbox lessons:

I will
begin
this lesson by explaining to the students the importance of knowing the
different sounds that letters, especially vowels, make in words because
this help us learn how to read.Today
we are going to learn about the vowel, e and the sound that it makes.Has anyone ever opened an old door and heard
the sound that it makes?Right!It says, 'eeeeeeeehhhh.' Take a look at this picture.We'll
pretend that it is an old, creaky door.

Now
I'm
going to pretend that I am opening a door, and I'm going to make the
'eeeehhh' sound when I do it.Model
this for students.Did you hear the
/e//sound?Give praise.Why don't we try it together??Have
students do this with you.

To help us remember this sound, we
can
use a silly tongue twister with the 'eeehhh' sound.Present the poster with the tongue twister to students.I'm going to read it first, and while I
read it, I want you to listen for that creaky /e/ sound!Read tongue twister to students, while
modeling opening the door as I say the /e/ sound.Let's
try it together.Give praise.Now, I want you to try it again, and this
time, let's really stretch that /e/ sound out and pretend to open that
creaky door!(Eeeeeeverbody saw
Eeeeeedie eeeeenter the eeeeeeelevator on the eeeeeelephant!)Great work!I
really heard that /e/ sound.Did you?

Now, we are going to become word
detectives, and we are going to try to find the /e/ sound in a few
words.I'm going to say some words, and I
need my detectives to tell me which word has the /e/ sound!Are you ready?Do
you hear the /e/ sound in bag or beg?Pig
or peg?Arm or leg?Allow students to give answers and provide praise for
correct answers.

Since you have done such a great
job as
a word detective, I think we are ready to get some extra practice using
our letter boxes!Everyone take out your
letter boxes and your letters!I will
also take out my letter boxes and letters and prepare to use them on
the overhead projector. Check to make sure
all students are ready to move on before moving ahead with the lesson.Ok, I'm going to spell the first word, but
I'm going to need your help.The first
word is egg.Ask for student's help
while doing this, but really model for them how to do it, so that those
who are unsure will have a clear understanding.Let
me think about the first sound I hear... Right!It's
the /e/ sound, so I'm going to place the e in my first letterbox.What the second sound I hear?Right!It's g, so I'm going to
place the g in my second letterbox, but I'm actually going to put two
g's, since the word egg is spelled e-g-g.

Now it's your turn.I will tell the students how many letterboxes
they need for
each word prior to giving them the word to spell.Your
first word is fed.I will continue
this process with each of the remaining words: 3- pal, shed, 4- bent,
test, sled, track, and 5- blend, trend.If
you need help, you may ask your neighbor, or you can raise your hand,
and I will come to help you.Have
students spell each of these words, while giving them ample time to
complete each one before moving to the next.Great
work boys and girls!Did everyone hear the
/e/ sound in those words?I will walk
around and monitor students' progress.

One way of the very best ways to
get
better at reading is to practice!So, now
I'm going to give you a list of the words that we just spelled, and we
are going to read them together!Give
each student a list of the words.Read
each of the words aloud with the students, modeling appropriate
decoding strategies when necessary.

Since you are doing such a great
job
reading, we are going to keep up the good work and get some more
practice so that we can be even better readers!Today,
we are going to read the story, Red gets Fed.This story is about a dog named Red.Red
is a very hungry and playful puppy, and all he wants to do is get fed.He looks and looks to try and find someone to
feed him and make him happy!Will he be
able to find someone?I guess you'll just
have to read to find out!Pass out
books to each student.Does everyone
having their reading buddy next to them?Students have "reading buddies" or partners to read new
stories so that they will have help if needed.Great!If you come across a word you don't know, you
can ask your reading buddy for help, and if they don't know, raise your
hand, and I will come by to help you!Really
pay attention and look closely to find the letter e that makes the /e/
sound!If you finish reading before your
friends do, itwould be a good idea to read your book again,
because how do we get better at reading?Right...
We practice!

Once students finish reading, direct
their
attention to the board.Ok boys and
girls, can anyone tell me any words that they came across in the story
that had the /e/ sound?Have students
provide these words and write them on the board, while requesting the
students' help in writing them.I love
the way that all of my friends were such great word detectives and
really found that /e/ sound in their story!

Assessment:

I
will take note of the students that participate in the class
discussion after
they have read the book and will be able to assess my students based on
their
ability to find the /e/ sound in Red gets Fed.In addition, I will have them individually read this book,
and I will walk around the class and note various miscues the students
make of
the e=/e/ correspondence.